55g reef build

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I've recently had a koralia start running in reverse. Interestingly enough if I flip the power switch a few times it'll start going the right way again until the power is shut off again. Might need a good grill cleaning or something.

I've never seen acans or rics look that nice at any LFS around here. I thought they were ugly before those pictures you posted lol.
 
Most of my powerheads are koralias. I have 2 that will go in reverse, which is sadly frequent because of my constant brownouts. I just unplug them and slightly plug them in as the first return of power doesn't correct the issue. I just keep barely plugging them in until they run in the correct direction and I just push the plug in the rest of the way.
 
Ya I removed the problem powerheads from my wavemaker and just have them running full time. Thanks for the compliments :). So any suggestions on raising KH?
 
Sniperhank said:
Most of my powerheads are koralias. I have 2 that will go in reverse, which is sadly frequent because of my constant brownouts. I just unplug them and slightly plug them in as the first return of power doesn't correct the issue. I just keep barely plugging them in until they run in the correct direction and I just push the plug in the rest of the way.

Yea I have the same problem when my power goes out they start up going backwards, and I figured out that it was a cause to the death of my yellow tang.
 
Carbonate hardness can be raised with some for of Alkalinity boost. Or you can simply add baking soda. Raising alkalanity also raises pH. Many aquarium boosters have the appropriate amount of acid to lower pH the same amount so only the Alkalanity goes up. If I had pH low I would go baking soda route.
Another term is BUFFER. Alkalanity is pH buffer. High alk indicates that it takes more acid to change pH so the pH swings will be less.
 
Thanks ingy, I'll try the baking soda method. What sort of quantity should be used? I will look into it online after work but being at work I don't have time. I have a 55g obviously and my KH has tanked to about 5-6 so I'd like to slowly raise it to 9 or 10 depending on how my ph reacts. I'm thinking of mixing it into my top off water.
 
How often do you water change? Water changes bring the KH back up. I have a product by seachem that raises alkalinity but really only used it once.

I think doing the water changes more often is more natural and doesn't effect pH as much.
 
I do water changes every week or two max. Usually in the range of 10-15g at a time and I have been watching my KH decline for a while but now it's really low and I need to bring it up. I'll run a test on my mix water as I'm doing a change tonight and we will see where it's at. I do have a different salt mix with less calcium but I haven't checked it to see what alkalinity it mixes to.
 
Well a quick google search yielded some results.

http://reef.diesyst.com/chemcalc/chemcalc.html

This is a link to a calculator that suggests 3.8 tbs of baking soda to reach desired KH. It also cautions that a slight drop in ph is to be expected. I will give it a whirl tonight after a water change depending on what my KH ends up being. If it does drop what can a person use to raise the ph?
 
Baking soda will take your pH to about 8.2. So yes, it may lower it, but it may raise it as well. Commercial buffers are designed with a target pH in mind for aquariums. In addition to bicarbonates, they will also have other components that will allow a higher pH endpoint.
So baking soda can help achieve a higher Alk quickly and cheaply. But don't use it exclusively.
 
Well my ph was at about 8.0 prior to adding baking soda. I added about 1 cup of rodi mixed with 1/2 tbs of baking soda and for a laugh I started trying to measure the kh of the rodi and baking soda and got tired of adding drops at 20 dKH. Hopefully that will help. I've also adjusted my powerheads to aim more upwards to help with the ph so we will see what happens. I have a water change prepared but didn't get to it tonight as I was busy after work but tomorrow will be the day. I also added a little baking soda to my top off water so hopefully I can get things stabilized. I will continue to monitor the ph and kh and see what happens and post what I find in the process.
 
I know im a few pages shy on topic but if you power head is running in reverse all i do is pop off head and tap the propeller it will begin going the other way.
 
It's not running in reverse. Koralias have a rubber bumper to prevent it. I ran my powerheads on a wave maker and two of them went into reverse and actually broke the bumper right off. To fix it I just plug them in and unplug them till they start going the right way. Koralia is sending me a new grill I'm just waiting for it to arrive.
 
kdpuffer said:
It's not running in reverse. Koralias have a rubber bumper to prevent it. I ran my powerheads on a wave maker and two of them went into reverse and actually broke the bumper right off. To fix it I just plug them in and unplug them till they start going the right way. Koralia is sending me a new grill I'm just waiting for it to arrive.

My one must be broken then because occasionally i will it running in reverse.
 
It very well could be, either the bumper fell off or the front grill broke. On another note, I got my all up with baking soda and it didn't effect my ph. I adjusted my powerheads to create more surface agitation and it seems to have balanced the ph. Also I cut a couple mushrooms off and traded for some new additions. I got a toadstool leather and a frag of what I believe to be digitata. Just finished acclimation so I'll try to grab some pics if they open up. Other than that no real news other than my GSP seems to have shrunk which I suspect is due to the flow change with the powerheads having crapped out on me. I'm going to tweak them some to try to increase flow and get some polyp extension back. My two milli have also reduced the amount they are extending. Prior to the powerhead issues they were doing great, great extension and phenomenal color. Now the polyps are retracted somewhat.
 
So here are the two new corals. I don't know what's up with it but the one rock with the new suspected digitata is the only rock in the tank with algae and my fox face and blenny won't touch it.
 

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